I like this life with you // 008

 

"And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all." -- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Homemade Dog Treats

I'm not sure if you remember me talking about our then latest purchase, the food dehydrator. I had purchased it right before we found the mass inside Piri's mouth {which turned out to be cancer -- oh how weird it is to see how things play out after the fact... anyway...}. 

I had purchased it because I had wanted to make homemade treats for Piri and since he was on a big Korean sweet potato kick back then that I thought it would be good to make him the dehydrated kind {longer shelf life, chewy, tasty, etc.}. Well it turned out that he was starting to get sick of Korean sweet potatoes soon afterward the dehydrator arrived and the mass inside his mouth was too much of a hassle for him to chew through such a sticky/semi hard treat. 

Although I ended up enjoying the chewy sweet potato treats myself, the dehydrator was feeling like one big fat space hogging mistake. 

I did end up drying strawberries and kiwi but I realized I'm not really a dried fruit kind of a person. I rather have them juicy, ya know? 

For a while I had contemplated on making jerky treats for us but the thought of putting meat on the drying trays turned me off. I didn't like the thought of putting both meat and vegetables, herbs and fruits all on the same trays even though I would be washing them, of course {we don't even use the same cutting boards for meats and vegetables!}. 

And so the dehydrator sat there collecting dust... until I finally said, "We're going to make some chicken jerky treats for Piri!" 

We were adding turmeric spice to his food then, which has so many benefits for his joints and possibly for cancer as well. And he was loving it too. 

So I defrosted some frozen chicken breast tenderloins from Trader Joe's, mixed it with coconut oil and turmeric and dried them.

It turned out that it was right around the time that Piri was getting sick of turmeric. 

Darn.

But, these treats turned out to be such a hit with our DogVacay guests. They gobbled it up and so the treats weren't a waste afterall.

And so right before all our June guests were slated to come to Piri's Place, I made some more, plus other kinds of homemade treats to share with our guests {with permission from clients first}. 

  // Chicken breast tenderloin with coconut oil, turmeric and parsley // 

  // Since Piri was no longer a fan of turmeric, I made a separate batch without turmeric. Unfortunately he ended up passing on these as well. Bleh. // 

  // Don't they look like little wands? Ha. Ground beef mixed with coconut oil, carrots, asparagus, parsley on sweet potato sticks! These are mega popular // 

  // For hot summer days -- frozen blended strawberries with goat milk from The Honest Kitchen // 

The ground beef on potato sticks were a bit harder to do -- just a lot of steps to prepare and so I am not sure if I'll make them again any time soon {well, maybe a variation of it}. But making homemade treats is actually really fun and rewarding, especially when dogs gobble it up and stare at you with buggy eyes because they want more. Their enthusiasm just makes everything worth it {even all those dishes!} 

The dehydrator is no longer a big fat mistake but one of the best kitchen purchases. 

Woot woot!

Piri's first ever BarkBox + the weekend

After going back and forth for many years, I finally got Piri's his first ever BarkBox. {fanfare music!}

BarkBox is a widely popular subscription box for dogs. I didn't sign up Piri all these years because I thought he would not be able to eat the treats that came with it {kidney disease}. But since his cancer diagnosis and us being a bit more lenient with his treats, and because a dog can never have enough toys {right?}, we decided to subscribe.

Piri's first box came yesterday.

This 17 year old, cancer fighting, kidney disease slaying, amazing cocker spaniel, got his first ever BarkBox. And the theme appropriately was "country fair." We've been always wanting to go to one with him. 

Piri gets to test out different treats and have a few more toys and we get to share with our DogVacay guests too. So I think this is a win win all around. 

What do you have planned for the weekend? 

We are continuing to take in dogs for the remainder of the month. Today Hank, the cutest Yorkipoo you'll ever see, is going back to home, and so it'll be just us and Rusty, a 15 year old dachshund kicking it senior dog style for the weekend {meaning -- mostly sleeping}. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lately at Piri's Place

We've been having a steady stream of guest dogs come to Piri's Place for the month of June. We kept it a bit on the low key side during the previous month and so it's nice to have a change of pace where every day we're kept busy and there is always the sound of paws running about. 

Piri was sick but bounced back just in time for when guests started to come. He has also been eating quite well, alongside his guest friends so we are thankful for their presence and friendship.

Hank and Loki playing with toys.

Loki thought Hank's chicken was better than her shrimp and snatched it away from him. Hank reacted with a "hey mom!!" look. I did indeed step in and give the toy back to Hank. Both were good sports and let me snap a picture, too. 

Spootie, Clover and Nala love to play with each other. They have their zoomies in the backyard and take rests together too.

Whenever a new dog comes to Piri's Place and I go to pet them or have them sit on my lap, Spootie comes by and either blocks their way or ends up sitting real close to me. 

None of the dogs are aggressive or strongly territorial where it causes huge problems. Everyone loves to share toys {although if they brought chews, that may be a different story and so we're careful when and where we give it - sometimes we don't at all}, and even if they have one taken away from them, no one gets angry or upset.

Piri too has been so great about sharing everything - our time, his bed, blankets, treats, water, toys. He's been like that in the past where we would go to the dog park and all the dogs would want to drink out of his bowl and he would back off and let them. 

These guys....

Summer days are meant to be filled with sun and dogs.

 

We are taking it a bit slower again for the months of July, August and September with only a few guests swinging by at Piri's Place. We decided we wanted to spend as much time alone with Piri as possible while also caring for pups who fit with our schedule on a case by case basis. All our clients have been so understanding as we try to still run Piri's Place while also caring for Piri, which has made transitioning and adjusting so much easier than expected. 

We also have a couple of back up plans in place in case there should ever come a time when we may have to rush to the ER together with Piri and we have guest dogs staying with us. It was hard to even think about having plans set but it was necessary. Hopefully we won't need ever need to put those plans in place.

Thank you Spootie, Clover, Max, Marley, Nala, Loki and Hank for making Piri's Place so fun, warm and welcoming. See you again real soon.